Stanley Kubrick

One of the most consistently fascinating filmmakers in the latter half of the 20th century, director Stanley Kubrick saw his seminal work praised and damned with equal vigor, though oftentimes found t...
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On Tuesday, Marvel’s Iron Man 3 became Disney’s fifth release to cross the $400 million mark at the domestic box office. The film, which has now earned over $1.2 billion and is the #5 film of all time globally, also recently passed Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and is currently the #6 film of all time at the international box office with more than $803 million. After achieving the second biggest domestic opening in history with $174.1 million, Iron Man 3 crossed the $1 billion threshold globally in 23 days, making it Disney’s sixth billion-dollar and second highest-grossing release of all time, behind only Marvel’s The Avengers. It has surpassed the total gross of The Avengers in China, Finland, Hong Kong, Korea, Russia, Poland, Switzerland, Thailand, and Ukraine, as well as Malaysia and Vietnam, where it is the highest grossing film of all time. MARVEL’S IRON MAN 3Estimated domestic cume: $400.4M Estimated international cume: $803.9MEstimated global cume: $1,204.3MCongratulations to Disney and Marvel on this amazing milestone!

Checkout my Google+ Hangout with filmmakers Todd Theman &amp; Trica Grashaw as we discuss the evolution of their latest project, Little Black Lie, from inception to pre-production. I had them live in-studio for a spirited and informal chat about the perils, rewards and challenges of bringing Todd's singular vision to the big screen. Todd will star in the film as well as produce and direct from his own screenplay while Tricia will serve as producer and art director for the modestly budgeted independent feature. We've embedded the YouTube live stream of our Hangout here, or you can watch on our official Google+ event page.
Todd also had this to say about the making of the film: "In addition to the style of shooting, Tricia Grashaw and I have worked for over two years on subtly highlighting the 'modern fairy-tale' aspects of the story through casting, costuming, set dressing and location scouting. This attention to detail will only enhance the underlying themes of the story. When completed, all of these elements will be woven seamlessly together to create a funny, tragic, INTENSE work of narrative Art. Little Black Lie is a story whose time has come."Here is the teaser trailer for the film:And cast &amp; crew interviews:
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Movie icon Martin Scorsese will be feted by his frequent collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio at the Los Angles County Museum of Art's upcoming Art+Film Gala. The Taxi Driver director will be celebrated for his Hollywood career on 2 November (13) at the third annual LACMA event, which is being chaired by DiCaprio.
In a statement, the actor says, "I've been lucky enough to collaborate with Marty on Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, and most recently The Wolf of Wall Street. I am thrilled to have my dear friend join us at LACMA and to celebrate his astounding cinematic legacy and leadership in preserving film for future generations."
British artist David Hockney will also be recognised at this year's (13) benefit. Previous honourees include late moviemaker Stanley Kubrick and Dirty Harry legend Clint Eastwood.

Warner Bros.’ Man of Steel sets new June all-time opening weekend record with $113,080,000 in 4,207 theaters for the Friday through Sunday period and $125,080,000 to date including the Thursday corporate group sale screening program of $12,000,000! This is also the second best debut of 2013 behind only Iron Man 3. See below for the list of Top June debuts: Top June Openers – Hollywood.com 1 Jun 14, 2013 Man of Steel $113,080,0002 Jun 18, 2010 Toy Story 3 $110,307,189 3 Jun 26, 2009 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen $108,966,307 4 Jun 4, 2004 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban $93,687,367 5 Jun 22, 2012 Brave $66,323,594 Playing on 331 IMAX screens, the domestic performance of Warner Bros.’ Man of Steel delivered an outstanding $13.3 mil in the IMAX network, a record opening for a June release. This is a 12% of the weekend take! IMAX's International box office for Man of Steel, on the first batch of 79 screens to open day and date, hit $4.2 mil (a stellar $53k per screen) and again, a June record. As of Sunday night, IMAX's Global weekend gross for Man of Steel is estimated to be $17.5 mil, delivering a record for a June release.
Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill and a cast of thousands took second place with the R-rated ensemble comedy This Is the End from Sony Pictures. The film got off to a fantastic start on Wednesday taking in $7.8 million on (including a whopping $2.2 million in Tuesday late shows) and erned $20.5 million for the weekend and earned back its entire production budget with its 5-day take since Wednesday of $32.8 million. Lionsgate’s magic heist film Now You See Me is holding strong in its third weekend dropping just 46% and earning $10.32 million, Universals’ Fast &amp; Furious 6 lands in fourth place with $9.4 million while Universal’s profit making machine The Purge starring Ethan Hawke rounds out the Top 5 with $8.2 million against a 76% second weeken drop. Fox’s Google comedy The Internship is in the sixth spot in its second weekend with $7 million. Next week look out for Brad Pitt in Paramount’s World War Z and Disney/Pixar’s animated prequel Monster’s University!Top Movies for Weekend of June 14 - June 16 (Estimates) - 'Man of Steel' sets June opening weekend record! Movie Gross Theaters Avg.Per YTD Distributor01 Man of Steel $113.08M 4,207 $26,879 $125.08M WB02 This is the End $20.5M 3,055 $6,710 $32.8M Sony03 Now You See Me $10.32M 3,082 $3,348 $80.0M Lionsgate04 Fast &amp; Furious 6 $9.4M 3,375 $2,795 $219.6M Universal05 The Purge $8.2M 2,591 $3,165 $51.8M Universal

Expectations for the opening weekend of Man of Steel are ranging from $75 million to well over $100 million, but with an impressive start with Thursday preview and midnight screenings of $21 million, Superman is already flying high.
For comparison, the June 2006 reboot Superman Returns had Wednesday midnight showings of $4.9 million and went on to a No. 1 debut of in its first weekend, raking in $52.5 million. In 2012, The Amazing Spider-Man reboot earned $7.5 million in Wednesday midnight screenings and went on to earn $62 million in its opening weekend. With Wednesday debuts, those two films burned off some of their gross before the weekend. Man of Steel has the advantage for a much bigger weekend by virtue of its Friday release date. We are looking forward to reporting some big numbers for Man of Steel this weekend!
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It's a bird, it's a plane, no — it's Man of Steel, Warner Bros' long-awaited and much anticipated reboot and origin story of the DC Comics crown jewel character Superman. The caped hero's long history with the cinema dates back to 1978, with the spawn of Christopher Reeve's line of Clark Kent films. The first two pictures, Superman: The Movie and Superman II, proved huge successes, generating over $240 million in domestic box office in late '70s dollars. However, the third and fourth installments (in '83 and '87) were less well received, and 2006's Bryan Singer-directed Superman Returns failed to reignite the character's fire as was hoped.
This time, however, they seem to have gotten it right, assembling the perfect producer/director team of Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder, effectively manifesting the origin story (as written by David S. Goyer of Batman Begins) of the iconic character, aided by a world class cast including Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Amy Adams, Diane Lane and the great character actor Michael Shannon. Newly minted Man of Steel Henry Cavill brings the perfect measure of brains and brooding brawn to the role. Expectations for the opening weekend are ranging from $75 million to well over $100 million, but there's no question that this film will have a long life in theaters regardless of the debut number. IMAX and 3-D presentations will also do their part to enhance the bottom line.
Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill and a cast of thousands join in the fun for the debut of the R-rated ensemble comedy This Is the End from Sony Pictures. The film got off to a fantastic start on Wednesday, taking in $7.8 million (including a whopping $2.2 million in Tuesday late shows). The five day (Wednesday to Monday) projection is in the low to mid $30 millions (and low $20 millions Friday through Sunday) and potentially a little more. The film has enjoyed generally excellent reviews, solid word of mouth, and got a two day jump on Superman.
Universal's profit-making machine The Purge, starring Ethan Hawke, will likely see a steep drop this weekend after last week's No. 1 debut, while Lionsgate's magic heist film Now You See Me, Universal's Fast &amp; Furious 6 and Fox's Google comedy The Internship will round out the rest of the pack. Next week, look out for Brad Pitt in Paramount's World War Z and Disney/Pixar's animated prequel Monster's University!
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When Room 237 took form as a documentary film devoted entirely to deconstructing, analyzing, and just simply talking about the majesty that is Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, nobody thought it all too peculiar. After all, the 1980 chiller stands as one of the most iconic and complex films in American history. But could this treatment work with another film? Sure, why not — if the film was just as memorable, just as beloved, just as much a pop culture benchmark... it wouldn't hurt if it also dealt with the supernatural, to boot. Sounds like a winner! So what's the next subject?
How about Ghostbusters?
There are only a select few who don't hold the 1984 Bill Murray-starrer in high comic esteem. But that doesn't mean we're not a little apprehensive about Ghostbusters as the focus of a new Room 237-style movie, Spook Central. Apprehensive and excited, that is — because if this works, it'll work like the dickens.
The above trailer for Spook Central offers a brief glimpse into the sort of chatter we'll be experiencing in the doc, with particularly interesting theories tying the Ghostbusters logo to the tobacco industry. With all the fun we had with Room 237, we're anticipating a lot of the same with this new feature. Yes, it could prove to be a half-cocked attempt at recreating the special project that was Room 237. But it could also be a load of laughs and some interesting insights. Watch the trailer and weigh in!
Follow Michael Arbeiter on Twitter @MichaelArbeiter | Follow hollywood.com on Twitter @hollywood_com
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The Purge starring Ethan Hawke obliterated pre-release tracking (which projected that the film would debut with a gross in the high teen millions) with an opening weekend gross of $36.4 million! The film marks Universal’s first micro-budget film with Paranormal Activity producer Jason Blum under the studio’s production partnership with Blumhouse Productions that began in 2011. This one is already a profit making machine and the premise of a 12-hour period where all crime is legal proved to be catnip for the horror/action crowd in theaters this weekend. Notable fact: Star Ethan Hawke a one-two punch of mainstream success (The Purge) and indie-cred (with Before Midnight) since both are in theaters this weekend.Universal also had the number two film with Fast &amp; Furious 6 which held in first place for the past two weekends, but dropped to second place with a solid third weekend frame of $19.76 million and a stunning North American total that just crossed $200 million this weekend. The global cume for the runaway hit is $584.6 million.Now You See Me has been weaving a magic spell over audiences since its second place debut last weekend with a much better than expected $29.25 million and had been giving Fast 6 a tough time in the mid-week derby in a virtual tug-of-war for first place. A gross this weekend of $19.5 million against a tiny 33% drop brings its North American total to $61.4 million. An original premise, a great marketing campaign and a solid cast have made this an early summer winner.Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn in Fox’s Google comedy The Internship makes its debut in fourth place with a better-than-expected $18.1 million. The pair starred in July 2005's The Wedding Crashers which had an opening weekend gross of $33.9 million. Paramount's Star Trek: Into Darkness landed in sixth place with $11.7 million and also crossed the $200 million mark in North America this weekend. Sony’s After Earth, which took some tough shots in the press this week, finishes its second weekend in seventh place and a gross of $11.2 million and $46.6 million to date.Look out this week for the ensemble comedy from Sony This is the End on Wednesday and then Warner Bros.' Father's Day gift to the world Man of Steel on Friday.Top Movies for Weekend of June 7 - June 9 (Estimates)Rank Movie Gross Theaters Avg.Per YTD Distributor1. The Purge - $36.4M gross - 2,536 theaters - $14,345 avg. per theater - $36.4M YTD - Universal2. Fast &amp; Furious 6 - $19.76M gross - 3,771 theaters - $5,240 avg. per theater - $202.9M YTD - Universal3. Now You See Me - $19.5M gross - 3,020 theaters - $6,457 avg. per theater - $61.4M YTD - Lionsgate4. The Internship - $18.1M gross - 3,366 theaters - $5,377 avg. per theater - $18.1M YTD - Fox5. Epic - $12.1M gross - 3,594 theaters - $3,367 avg. per theater - $84.1M YTD - Fox6. Star Trek: Into Darkness - $11.7M theaters - 3,152 theaters - $3,712 avg. per theater - $200.1M YTD -Paramount7. After Earth - $11.2M gross - 3,401 theaters - $3,293 avg. per theater - $46.6M YTD - Sony
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After a record-breaking Memorial Day weekend for the industry, Universal's Fast &amp; Furious 6 makes it two in a row at the top of the box office chart with a second weekend gross of $34.5 million against a 65% drop (Fast Five dropped 62% in its second weekend). With $170.4 million already in the bank after just ten days of release in North America (and $480.6 million globally), the film is an unqualified blockbuster success.
Lionsgate/Summit's magic crime caper film Now You See Me, blew away all box office projections (which put it in the mid to high teen millions range) with a much better than expected $28 million! A terrific marketing campaign by Summit (much like their success on Warm Bodies back in Feb.), made this one a surprise over-performer! An original concept and a great release date didn't hurt either. Featuring a terrific ensemble cast including Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, Morgan Freeman, and Mark Ruffalo, this unique and original drama clearly found an audience with those looking for something different than the usual summer fare.Will Smith throws his summer movie hat in the box office ring with the existential sc-fi movie After Earth from Sony Pictures. The film co-stars Smith's son Jaden Smith who starred in the 2010 hit The Karate Kid. Director M. Night Shyamalan, who has as many detractors as fans, is nonetheless an exciting filmmaker with a distinctive vision. $27 million placed it in the third spot.Fourth place is a tie with Fox's animated Epic in its second weekend and Paramount's Star Trek: Into Darkness in its third weekend of release both reporting a Friday through Sunday gross of $16.4 million.Back for its second weekend, Warner Bros. The Hangover Part III lands in sixth place taking in $15.93 million and $88 million to date in N. America. Of course, Iron Man 3 remains a factor even in its fifth weekend with $8 million in seventh place and is now the fifth highest grossing film worldwide of all time with $1,180 million!
Top Movies for Weekend of May 31 - June 2 (Estimates)1. Fast &amp; Furious 6 - $34.5M gross - 3,686 theaters - $9,370 avg. per theater - $170.4M YTD - Universal2. Now You See Me - $28.05M gross - 2,925 theaters - $9,590 avg. per theater - $28.05M YTD - Lionsgate3. After Earth - 27.0M gross - 3,401 theaters - $7,939 avg. per theater - $27.0M YTD - Sony4. Epic - $16.4M gross - 3,894 theaters - $4,212 avg. per theater - $65.2M YTD - Fox5. Star Trek: Into Darkness - $16.4M gross - 3,585 theaters - $4,575 avg. per theater - $181.1M YTD - Paramount6. The Hangover Part III - $15.9M gross - 3,565 theaters - $4,468 avg. per theater - $88.0M YTD - Warner Bros.7. Iron Man 3 - $8.0M gross - 2,895 theaters - $2,765 avg. per theater - $384.7M YTD - DisneyFollow Paul Dergarabedian on Twitter @PDergarabedian | Follow Hollywood.com on Twitter @hollywood_com
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After a record-breaking Memorial Day weekend for the industry, Universal's Fast &amp; Furious 6 looks to make it two in a row at the top of the box office chart with a second weekend gross in the $40 million range (Fast Five dropped 62% in its second weekend, but we expect a slightly lower drop). With $130 million already in the bank after just six days of release in North America (and well north of $300 million globally), the film is already an out and out blockbuster success.
No stranger to summer success is Will Smith, who debuts this weekend in the existential sc-fi movie After Earth from Sony Pictures. The film co-stars Smith's son Jaden Smith who starred in the 2010 hit The Karate Kid. Director M. Night Shyamalan, who has as many detractors as fans, is nonetheless an exciting filmmaker with a distinctive vision. An expected debut of about $30 million should land it easily in second place.
Third place will likely go to Paramount's Star Trek: Into Darkness in its third weekend of release with a weekend gross in the $20 million range and total revenues nearing $200 million in North America. Great word-of-mouth has continued for the second installment of the J.J. Abrams re-boot of the classic franchise.
A real traffic jam may develop in the battle for fourth and fifth place with the second weekend of Fox's animated Epic likely to draw a gross in the high teens and thus find itself in a close race with Lionsgate's magic crime caper film Now You See Me, which is expected to debut in the same range. Featuring a terrific ensemble cast including Jesse Eisenberg, Morgan Freeman, and Mark Ruffalo, this unique and original drama could find an audience with those looking for something different than the usual summer fare.
The wildcard is the Wolf Pack. Back for its second weekend, Warner Bros. The Hangover Part III could wind up wedging between Epic and Now You See Me depending on the second weekend drop. Of course, Iron Man 3 remains a factor even as it enters its fifth weekend.
Follow Paul Dergarabedian on Twitter @PDergarabedian | Follow Hollywood.com on Twitter @hollywood_com
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Returned to features with screen adaptation of Stephen King's "The Shining"

First feature film as director (also director of photography, editor and producer), "Fear and Desire"

"A.I. Artificial Intelligence", a film based on his unproduced screenplay, written and directed by Steven Spielberg released

Moved to Great Britain, which stood in for America in "Lolita"; based in London ever since

First short film as director (also screenwriter, director of photography and producer), the 16-minute documentary "Day of the Fight", about boxer Walter Cartier whom Kubrick had photographed for Look magazine

Replaced Anthony Mann as the director of "Spartacus", at the time the most expensive movie ever made in America

Produced, directed and adapted "A Clockwork Orange" from the Anthony Burgess novel; received Academy Award nominations for Best Screenplay and Best Picture and as Best Director

Hired by Marlon Brando to direct the Western "One-Eyed Jacks"; left the project after six months; Brando went on to direct (date approximate)

Scripted along with Terry Southern and Peter George from George's novel "Red Alert" the apocalyptic black comedy "Dr Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb"; also directed, produced and served as special photographic effects desi

Wrote, produced, directed and designed the effects for "2001: A Space Odyssey"; received Oscar for Best Special Effects and nominations as Best Director and for Best Screenplay

Photograph taken by Kubrick of a newsdealer on the day of President Franklin Roosevelt's death bought by Look magazine; Kubrick subsequently hired as a photographer for the magazine and worked there from 1946-1950

Last feature for five years, "Barry Lyndon"; wrote, produced and directed; again personally nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay

Announced casting of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in feature "Eyes Wide Shut" and began lensing in November; completed shooting in 1998; film released posthumously in the summer of 1999

Adapted (along with Calder Willingham and Jim Thompson) Humphrey Cobb's World War I novel "Paths of Glory", starring Kirk Douglas; as an indictment of war, compared to Lewis Milestone's "All Quiet on the Western Front" and Jean Renoir's "La Grande Illusio

Summary

One of the most consistently fascinating filmmakers in the latter half of the 20th century, director Stanley Kubrick saw his seminal work praised and damned with equal vigor, though oftentimes found that his film's reputations grew over time. Just as his singularly brilliant visual style won him great acclaim, his unconventional sense of narrative and seeming lack of overt emotionalism often elicited critical scorn. Emerging onto the filmmaking scene with films like "Killer's Kiss" (1953) and "The Killing" (1956), Kubrick truly arrived with his bleak antiwar epic "Paths of Glory" (1957). After playing the role of director-for-hire on the sword and sandal epic "Spartacus" (1960), Kubrick entered the pantheon of great filmmakers with "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb" (1964), often cited as the finest political satire ever made. Continuing that tradition, he directed the technically brilliant "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968), which was hailed as the best science fiction film of all time, though not without earning some detractors for its lack of emotion. Kubrick courted controversy with the ultraviolent "A Clockwork Orange" (1971) before making what many considered to be one of his best films, "Barry Lyndon" (1975). With "The Shining" (1980), Kubrick waded into the horror genre with exacting aplomb, though he misfired a bit with the uneven Vietnam picture "Full Metal Jacket" (1987). Twelve years later, Kubrick directed his final film, "Eyes Wide Shut" (1999), which managed to garner its share of controversy even after his death prior to its release. Cited by many filmmakers from Steven Spielberg to Woody Allen as being a source of inspiration, Kubrick remained a unique artist capable of a wide diversity in a medium often dominated by repetition and mediocrity. Though his ambitious and often obsessive vision sometimes exceeded his capacity to satisfy the demands of mainstream filmmaking, Kubrick nonetheless laid claim to a distinctive style of cinema often imitated, but never duplicated.<p>Born on July 26, 1928 in the Bronx, NY, Kubrick was raised by his father, Jacques, a doctor, and his mother, Gertrude. When he was 12, Kubrick's father taught him how to play chess, sparking a lifelong obsession with the game, while also introducing his son to photography after giving him a Graflex camera. Despite being a rather poor student throughout his childhood - he later described himself as a "school misfit" - Kubrick spent time honing his camera skills while attending William H. Taft High School. For almost a year, he was the school's official photographer despite his below average grades. He eventually graduated in 1946. During this time, Kubrick took more of a professional interest in photography and began finding ways to sell his pictures while becoming deeply serious about chess after he joined the Marshall Chess Club. The death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt provided an opportunity for the young photographer when he snapped a photo of a distraught newspaper dealer, which he sold to <i>Look</i> magazine. He was soon hired as a staff photographer and spent the next several years working for the magazine while briefly attending classes at City College and Columbia University.<p>Kubrick married his first wife and high school sweetheart, Toba Metz, in 1947, only to divorce in 1952. Also during this time, he began taking an interest in film, particularly documentaries, and was persuaded by a friend to make short documentaries for a provider of newsreels to movie theaters. Kubrick agreed and self-financed his first film, "Day of the Fight" (1951), a 16-minute look at middleweight boxer Walter Cartier's preparations for his match against contender Bobby James on April 17, 1950. He moved on to direct the medium-length documentary, "The Seafarers" (1953), which basically served as a promotional film to recruit sailors into the Seafarers International Union. Despite the rather hum-drum nature of the film, it did feature a sideways dolly shot that served as an early demonstration of what later became one of his signature techniques. Kubrick moved on to narrative filmmaking with "Fear and Desire" (1953), a war film made with a handful of actors and crew, one of whom was his first wife. Because of the low production values and continuity errors on display, Kubrick pulled the film from circulation, only to find it back in the public after letting the copyright lapse into the public domain some years later.<p>Kubrick went on to direct his second low budget feature, "Killer's Kiss" (1955), a film noir about a second-rate boxer who tries to flee New York with his dance hall girlfriend (Irene Kane), only to run afoul of her gangster boss (Frank Silvera). Working with producer James B. Harris, Kubrick graduated to professional cast and crew with his next effort, "The Killing" (1956), a well-paced and assured noir about a race track heist spearheaded by a career criminal (Sterling Hayden) looking to make one last score. Kubrick's first major feature effort suffered at the box office while failing to garner praise from critics of that time. "The Killing" did, however, earn respectability over time and earned its place as one of the classics of the genre. Kubrick went on to direct his first truly great film, "Paths of Glory" (1957), which marked his emergence as a major director. Sharp, intelligent and superbly acted, the World War I saga featured star and producer Kirk Douglas as a French colonel who defends three soldiers accused of cowardice against an incompetent general (Adolphe Menjou) determined to execute them for his own failure. A box office disappointment upon its release and banned in both France and Germany, "Paths of Glory" was a critical hit that ensured its stature throughout the years as one of the finest antiwar films ever made.<p>Although his next effort seemed to be more of a personal effort for producer-star Kirk Douglas than the director, Kubrick demonstrated that he could function within mainstream Hollywood with the sword-and-sandal epic "Spartacus" (1960), the first and only feature film he did as a work-for-hire. Brought in a week into shooting after original director Anthony Mann was replaced by Douglas, Kubrick nonetheless established his presence right away by promptly firing the movie's cinematographer. A loosely historical look at the titular Thracian slave (Douglas) who dared to take on the Roman Empire with a large scale slave revolt, "Spartacus" retained Kubrick's rather bleak outlook despite being a major Hollywood production and one of the more expensive ones to make at the time. Several critics praised the visual aspects of the widescreen, Technicolor epic, which some considered to be a notch or two above the standard spectacle of the day, while also highlighting the underlying themes between the aesthetics of warfare and its human consequences. Meanwhile, the film earned six Academy Award nominations, mainly in more technical categories, and took home four.<p>In 1961, Kubrick left the United States for England in 1961 in search of greater independence and control of his films. It was there that he worked for the remainder of his career, developing and producing meticulously crafted, yet markedly different films. The first was "Lolita" (1962), an adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel about Humbert Humbert (James Mason), a middle-aged man who develops an infatuation with Dolores Haze, a promiscuous 14-year-old girl (Sue Lyon). But because of censorship and the public mores of the time, Kubrick was forced to reduce the sexual relationship between Humbert and the girl to nothing more than mere suggestion. In fact, Kubrick later commented that if he had known how difficult the censors were going to be, he never would have made the movie at all. Also featuring comedic actor Peter Sellers, who donned several disguises to play various personas from his greatly expanded character, Clare Quilty, "Lolita" was as controversial as Vladimir Nabokov's original book despite its watered-down content. With little advertising, the film did well enough upon its release and earned several award nominations for the main cast, as well as an Oscar win for Nabokov for adapting his own material.<p>The ironic touch displayed in "Lolita" exploded to cosmic proportions with the black comedy "Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" (1964). Beginning as a serious thriller about the possibility of nuclear Armageddon, Kubrick decided instead to inject stark humor into the script after seeing the inherent comedy in the idea of mutual assured destruction. Peter Sellers again was the star and this time played three distinct roles: a British attaché to a crazed American general (Sterling Hayden); the mild-mannered President of the United States, who tries to call off the attack while battling a gung-ho general (George C. Scott); and the titular Dr. Strangelove, a wheelchair-bound former Nazi scientist who routinely calls the president Mein Führer and struggles with a hand that wants to give the Nazi salute. With such classic moments as Seller's president breaking up a fight and declaring "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the war room," to the Air Force captain played by Slim Pickens waving his cowboy hat and riding to mankind's doom atop a falling nuclear bomb, "Dr. Strangelove" marked a true achievement for the director, who created what many considered to have been the best political satire of the 20th century.<p>Despite some moral backlash, the successes of "Lolita" and "Strangelove" earned Kubrick the freedom to choose his own subjects and, more importantly, to exert total control over the filmmaking process. The first product of this license was the science-fiction classic "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968). Having set out to make what he called the "proverbial good science fiction movie," Kubrick spent five years making "2001," which started with a collaboration with science fiction author, Arthur C. Clarke, who wrote his novel of the same name while penning the script with the director. A stark and often esoteric look at human evolution, technology and alien life, "2001" was a visually hypnotic film that contained little dialogue and few explicit explanations, but was chock full of filmic metaphors and groundbreaking special effects that remained industry standards for the next decade. Though it received mixed reviews following its initial release, "2001" grew over time - as many Kubrick films had a tendency to do - into becoming what many considered to be the finest science fiction movies ever made, and arguably one of the best in any genre. Featuring such memorable moments as a senior astronaut (Keir Dullea) killing the wayward Hal 9000, to that same character transforming from a human into an extraterrestrial life form, "2001" was without a doubt Kubrick's finest achievement.<p>Further cementing his anti-establishment reputation, Kubrick followed "2001" with "A Clockwork Orange" (1971), adapted from the novel by Anthony Burgess. Depicting a disturbing future set in totalitarian England, the film followed Alex (Malcolm McDowell), a Beethoven-loving amoral punk who leads his gang of droogs on a series of ultra-violent assaults until he is captured by authorities and subjected to nasty behavior-modification therapy. With an initial X-rating, "A Clockwork Orange" opened to come degree of controversy due several acts of onscreen violence, including a brutal rape scene that was made notorious by Alex singing "Singin' in the Rain" while beating a man and woman senseless. Forced to recut portions of the film, the director nonetheless displayed a highly visceral visual style punctuated by a camera that moved with an audacity unrivaled in contemporary cinema. Meanwhile, the film received high praise from critics and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. Kubrick next directed "Barry Lyndon" (1975), a bold attempt to bring modern techniques to bear upon a narrative set in the 18th century. Kubrick spent as much technical effort and expertise recreating the lighting and imagery of William Makepeace Thackeray's novel, as he had done inventing a future in his two previous films. Although a commercial failure, "Barry Lyndon" fit logically into the Kubrick canon, a dour fable of humanity trapped in the same determinism that had colored his previous work. And much like his previous work, the film earned a greater appreciation long after its release, with some critics citing it as one of his finest films.<p>Notoriously taking a long time to make a movie, Kubrick next adapted Stephen King's horror novel "The Shining" (1980), a slow-moving, but hypnotic horror film about struggling writer Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), who serves as the winter caretaker to the remote Overlook Hotel, only to go mad and try to kill his naïve wife (Shelley Duvall) and telepathic son (Danny Lloyd). Thanks to Nicholson's manic performance, which included the famous line "Here's Johnny!" as he chops down a bathroom door with an axe to kill his wife, "The Shining" was the recipient of diametrically opposed reviews from critics and audiences. A financial success at the time of release, it eventually earned a better reputation over time. Meanwhile, Stephen King took issue with Kubrick's take on his material, saying that he actually hated the adaptation despite some memorable visuals because of the director's apprehension with tackling the novel's supernatural elements. Eventually, King's opinions about the film mellowed years later.<p>Kubrick waited seven years to release his next movie, "Full Metal Jacket" (1987), an adaptation of Gustav Hasford's Vietnam war novel <i>The Short-Timers</i> (1979) that was essentially two movies in one. The first section focused on Private Joker (Matthew Modine), who arrives at Marine basic training on Parris Island where the recruits endure a barrage of insults from their gunnery sergeant (R. Lee Ermey), leading to the mental disintegration and eventual suicide of a slow-witted grunt (Vincent D'Onofrio). The second part followed Joker to the jungles of Vietnam, where he serves as a combat correspondent and comes across his fellow recruits, all of whom have turned jaded from seeing the horrors of war. Though compelling and well-acted, "Full Metal Jacket" paled in comparison to the tropical splendor of Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" (1979) and the emotional reality on display in Oliver Stone's "Platoon" (1986). More than 10 years passed until Kubrick allowed his next film "Eyes Wide Shut" (1999), starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, to see the light of day. True to form, the pedantic filmmaker labored excessively, assigning great importance to each and every image the camera would record and endlessly reshooting scenes until achieving the exact look he desired in this sexual psychodrama about a Manhattan doctor (Tom Cruise) who gets drawn into a ritualistic sexual underworld after his wife (Nicole Kidman) admits to having fantasies about another man.<p>On March 7, 1999, just four days after screening a final cut of "Eyes Wide Shut" for friends and family prior to its release, Stanley Kubrick died from a heart attack in his sleep. He was 70. Naturally, the director managed to court controversy even after his death when Warner Bros. took control of "Eyes Wide Shut" and digitally altered an orgy scene in order to receive an R-rating instead of the dreaded NC-17 tag. Some critics decried the studios decision to alter Kubrick's vision of the film, though it was eventually restored upon its release on DVD. Meanwhile, director Steven Spielberg directed "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence" (2001), which Kubrick began developing as far back as the early 1970s. Throughout the ensuing decades, Kubrick had extended conversations with Spielberg about the project and eventually gave his blessing for him to direct it in 1995. It took Kubrick's death for the film to get off the ground and it was eventually released in the following millennium. The film starred child actor Haley Joel Osment as a young android who sets off on a journey in a dystopian future in order to discover if he is anything more than just a robot. Hailed by most critics, who cited that Kubrick would have been pleased with the results, "A.I." benefited from the infusion of the director's bleak outlook and Spielberg's bright optimism - all of which helped put a cap on Kubrick's brilliant cinematic career.

Name

Role

Comments

Gertrude Kubrick

Mother

Susanne Harlan

Wife

married in April 1958; appeared in "Paths of Glory" (1957) as the young woman singing the German song at end; had been previously married to Werner Bruhns with whom she had a daughter Katherine; mother of Kubrick's two daughters; survived him

Jan Harlan

Brother-In-Law

made series of documentaries about Kubrick

Jacques Kubrick

Father

the son of Polish and Romanian Jews; married Kubrick's mother on October 30, 1927

Anya Kubrick

Daughter

born on April 6, 1959; mother, Susanne Christiane Harlan; survived him

Katherine Kubrick

Daughter

natural daughter of Werner Bruhns and Christiane Kubrick; looked upon Kubrick as her father and adopted his surname

Vivian Kubrick

Daughter

born on August 5, 1960; mother, Susanne Christiane Harlan; shot documentary film of Kubrick making "The Shining" (for which she worked in the art department), screened on the BBC arts program "Arena" in 1980, parts of which made it into another documentary "The Invisible Man", shown on England's Channel 4 in 1996; had a bit part in "2001" (1968); composed the original music for "Full Metal Jacket" (1987) under the pseudonym Abigail Mead; survived him

Barbara Kubrick

Sister

born on May 21, 1934

Toba Metz

Wife

born on January 24, 1930; highschool sweethearts; married in 1947; divorced in 1952; worked as dialogue director on "Fear and Desire" (1953)

Ruth Sobotka

Wife

married in January 1955; divorced c. 1957; was art director in "The Killing" (1956); also acted in "Killer's Kiss" (1955) as the heroine's sister in the flashback sequences

Education

Name

William H Taft High School

Columbia University

City College

Notes

"I'm distrustful in delegating authority, and my distrust is usually well founded." --Stanley Kubrick.

"I tried with only limited success to make the film as real as possible but I was up against a pretty dumb script which was rarely faithful to what is known about Spartacus. If I ever needed convincing of the limits of persuasion a director can have on a film where someone else is the producer and he is merely the highest paid member of the crew, 'Spartacus' provided proof to last a lifetime." --Stanley Kubrick quoted in "World Film Directors" Volume II 1945-1985, edited by John Wakeman (New York: H W Wilson Company.)

"There is no doubt that there's a deep emotional relationship between man and his machines, which are his children. The machine is beginning to assert itself in a very profound way, even attracting affection and obsession.

"There is a sexiness to beautiful machines. The smell of a Nikon camera. The feel of an Italian sports car, or a beautiful tape recorder. ... Man has always worshipped beauty, and I think there's a new kind of beauty afoot in the world." --Stanley Kubrick to The New York Times in 1968, at the time of the release of "2001."

"He does not believe in biting the hand that might strangle him." --critic Hollis Alpert.

"He is a brilliant filmmaker, but he does not do well in the final test--as a man." --"A Clockwork Orange" star Malcolm McDowell on Kubrick.

" ... I think the enemy of the filmmaker is not the intellectual or the member of the mass public, but the kind of middlebrow who has neither the intellectual apparatus to analyze and clearly define what is meant nor the honest emotional reaction of the mass film audience member. And unfortunately, I think that a great many of these people in the middle are occupied in writing about films. I think that it is a monumental presumption on the part of film reviewers to summarize in one terse, witty, clever Time Magazine-style paragraph what the intention of the film is. That kind of review is usually very superficial, unless it is a truly bad film, and extremely unfair." --Stanley Kubrick to Robert Emmett Ginna from an unpublished 1960 interview (From Entertainment Weekly, April 9, 1999.)

"He didn't like stupidity, razzmatazz, celebrity. Stanley refused to accept that drainage of his spirit." --novelist and friend David Cornwall (aka John Le Carre), quoted in Newsweek, March 22, 1999.

"He not only understood humanity, he understood it too well. He had no love of humanity. He was a misanthrope." --Alexander Walker, author of "Stanley Kubrick Directs."